About Complaints

Who can make a complaint?

Any person may make a complaint about the conduct of a lawyer. You can make a complaint about the conduct of:

a lawyer (barrister or solicitor) who is currently acting for you or who previously acted for you or is acting for another party;

a lawyer who is working alone or who is an employee of a legal firm; or

a government lawyer.

Lodging a complaint

Before you send a formal complaint to the Board, you should try to resolve your concerns with your lawyer in a less formal way, such as:

talking to the lawyer, calmly raising your issues and explaining what outcome you want;

raising your concerns with a more senior person at the same firm; or

contacting the Legal Profession Board staff to determine if they can assist you to resolve the problem without the need of a formal complaint.

Time limits

The Board may be unable to deal with your complaint if it is made more than 3 years after the conduct is alleged to have occurred. If you think your complaint might be too old to deal with, you can read the Board’s fact sheet on ‘out of time complaints’ or contact us to discuss the matter.

Important things to consider when making a complaint

You can engage the services of another lawyer at any time whether a complaint has been made or not.

All complaints lodged with the Board are confidential.

However we will send a copy of your complaint to the lawyer involved unless it will interfere with the investigation or put you at risk. We must also advise the Law Society of Tasmania of details of the complaint.

You may withdraw your complaint at any time. Even if you withdraw your complaint, we may still take further action if we think it is appropriate to do so.